The production of human interferon from cells of human origin has found worldwide attention because of its therapeutic potential as well as for the treatment of acute and chronic virus infections and for cancer therapy. The required amounts of interferon cannot be provided at the present time with established producers because conventional induction of tissue culture cells results in low concentrations of interferon.
The production of interferon according to already published procedures is conventionally achieved by adding interferon inducers such as, for example, a viral inducer or a nucleic acid inducer, to the culture medium of human cells. After this induction period, cells are removed from interferon containing cell supernatants and the remainder of the inducers is inactivated by the addition of mineral acid for several days. The crude interferon preparation obtained in that way can be concentrated and purified thereafter according to known methods. See, for example, German Published Application (DOS) No. 2,724,918.